A new report has claimed that CM Punk tried to return to WWE last year while he was still contracted to AEW!
At WWE Survivor Series: WarGames, the impossible became possible: CM Punk returned to WWE. His appearance at the Premium Live Event came almost a decade on from his last appearance at the 2014 Royal Rumble, after which he controversially walked out of the company.
A new report has suggested that Punk’s return hasn’t taken this long due to a lack of trying on his part. Dave Meltzer reports in the latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter that Punk has attempted to return to the company twice over the last few years, with one of those tries happening just before he signed with AEW in 2021.
Interestingly, Meltzer notes that the other attempt took place just last year while Punk was still under contract with AEW, which prevented WWE from being able to sign him. The report did not make it clear when exactly in 2022 Punk made this attempt.
“From the WWE side, they knew Punk would come since there were the two prior attempts Punk’s side made to come in, once before he signed with AEW and a second time last year when WWE couldn’t have gotten him anyway because his AEW contract was still in effect.”
CM Punk May Be Legally Barred From Discussing AEW
Just two days after his surprise Survivor Series appearance, Punk spoke about his WWE return during the main event segment of the November 27th edition of Raw. In a surprise to some, the two-time AEW World Champion didn’t reference AEW nor his time in that promotion whatsoever.
The reason behind this is said to be that CM Punk has signed non-disclosure agreements that legally prevent him from discussing AEW in public. However, a later report from Haus of Wrestling conflicts with this as they noted that they could not confirm CM Punk had signed any NDAs in connection to his termination from AEW, let alone multiple.